Fans of “America’s Team” may have noticed a drastic change on the 2025 Dallas Cowboys schedule.
On Wednesday evening, the NFL finally released the complete regular-season schedule for 2025. Several games were announced ahead of time leading up to the full release, including the Cowboys-Philadelphia Eagles Kickoff Game on Sept. 4.
After it was released, some fans may have noticed an interesting change on the Dallas Cowboys schedule this year: A considerable decrease in games on the 4:25 p.m. EST time slot on Fox.
Dallas “only” has three games scheduled in that marquee spot: Week 3 at the Chicago Bears, Week 7 vs. the Washington Commanders and Week 12 vs. the Philadelphia Eagles. They also play at 4:25 p.m. EST on the road against the Denver Broncos in Week 8 on CBS.
Speaking to Richard Deitsch of The Athletic, Fox Sports President of Insights and Analytics Mike Mulvihill explained why his network is carrying fewer Dallas Cowboys games in the premium 4:25 p.m. EST slot this year, citing the wish to have “more diversity” there:
“Of our 4:25 p.m. games, only three of them are Cowboys games. In other years, we’ve gone looking for five or six Dallas games at 4:25. What we wanted for this year was more AFC, more Philly, but also more Detroit and a little more Washington to try to capitalize on the Jayden Daniels story.
I think we have a better mix of teams than we’ve had in the past. Sometimes we’ve heard exasperation from fans that the Fox 4:25 game is always the Cowboys. It’s still gonna be the Cowboys sometimes this year, but you’ll see a little bit more variety in terms of top teams in our 4:25 window.”
Non-Dallas Cowboys fans have long loathed the number of prime-time and 4:25 p.m. slots they receive. But at the end of the day, America’s Team still draws impressive television ratings.
Dallas initially had four games scheduled in the Fox 4:25 slot last year, but the Week 17 game against the Eagles was moved to a 1:00 p.m. EST kickoff.
Dallas Cowboys Have Six Prime Time Games In 2026
The Dallas Cowboys may have less games in the late afternoon slot on Fox this year, but the NFL once again loaded up on prime time games for America’s Team. Surprise surprise.
Dallas will kick off its 2025 season against the defending Super Bowl champions on NBC in Week 1. Three weeks later, they’ll host another longtime rival in the Green Bay Packers on ‘Sunday Night Football.’
They’ll host the Arizona Cardinals on ESPN ‘Monday Night Football’ in Week 9, head into a bye week then return to visit the Las Vegas Raiders on MNF in Week 11. Dallas will visit the Detroit Lions on ‘Thursday Night Football’ in Week 14 before hosting the Minnesota Vikings on SNF the following week.
